Gifted Academy: The Perfect Student

I spent a few minutes sorting out questions so that I would be able to gauge Kanako's ability—this was the first step in a likely gruelling campaign. I made sure to pick a wide variety of questions and make sure that each subject was equally difficult.

I handed her the questions and had her complete them

I watched as she seemingly managed to finish them without any struggle.

"Are you done?"

"Yep!"

She passed her answers to me before sprinting off into her room.

What on earth...

From what I could tell, she was definitely trying...

The only problem was... 25% in English, 20% in Maths, 10% in Sciences, and 15% in Humanities.

Well, no wonder her father was looking for tutors.

She had holed herself back up in her room. I slowly made my way over and began speaking through the door again. She was definitely not making it easy for me to teach her. Well, at least I've got an understanding of her abilities now.

"Can you come out?"

"No!"

"If you don't, I'm going to pull you out. We made a bet, didn't we?"

"I'd like to see you try."

Ah.

Again, I twisted the doorknob; as expected, she was holding onto it from the other side. I twisted it with a bit more strength, but it appeared that she was holding onto it harder than before.

I'm sure her father won't be too mad if he needs to replace her door—he did say that he would pay for anything I needed.

With the design of these doorknobs, I couldn't really put my full strength into them.

"I would step away from the door if I was you."

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"What are you planning on doing!"

I let go of the doorknob and took a step back.

"I have personal matters at stake. I'm afraid I cannot just let you do as you like."

"No! What are you going to do!"

"I'm going to kick the door down now, move away from the door if you don't want to get injured."

"Stop!"

Suddenly, on the other side of the door, I heard the faint sound of a few steps.

I walked forwards and simply opened the door.

I was met by her lying on her bed, with her head on her pillow.

"Kanako, I'm going to need you to cooperate with me."

"No... I don't want to study..."

"Why is that?"

She covered her face with her pillow and didn't respond to me.

I needed to find out why she was so against the idea of studying.

"You're good at chess. I'm sure that it would translate pretty well into subjects like math."

"I-I just don't understand them... chess is the only thing I can do..."

"You won't know unless you try."

"I do try! You don't know how many other tutors I've had before you! In the beginning, I would work hard with all of my energy... but nothing would come of it."

"Everyone's capable of improving."

"That's what all the other tutors said as well! But look at me. I get terrible marks on all of my tests despite how hard I try... You look the same age as me! How could you possibly help?"

"Just come out and study with me for a bit... please."

"No! I'm stupid. I'll never be anything aside from stupid... chess is the only thing I have..."

I walked over and took a seat on her bed.

"How about this... come to the mall with me," I offered.

"Huh...?"

I waited for her response.

"Why... why do you want me to go to the mall with you...?"

"No reason, I'm just bored."

She pulled her face off of her pillow and looked at me.

"I'll give you ten minutes to prepare, and then we'll go," I stated.

"B-but..."

"It's not studying, is it? There's no issue, right?"

I walked out of her room and closed the door behind me.

Ten minutes later, she came back out of her room, dressed in a casual outfit.

"W-we're just going to the mall... right?"

"Yes."

The two walked over to the front door and made our way into the hallway of the apartment complex.

"I don't understand... why do you want me to come to the mall with you?"

"It's a bit awkward to go to the mall by myself."

"Can't you just go with one of your friends?"

"There's a cafe with really good food, but it has kind of a couple's vibe. I feel awkward going inside with a group of boys."

"Eh?" She seemed to have been caught by surprise.

"Do you not want to go?"

She appeared to be quite flustered by what I said.

"B-but... I mean... we just met..."

"It's just for some food, nothing more."

"Ah... alright then..."

I called for an Uber, which picked us up and took us over to the mall. The two of us made our way to the cafe that I was referring to—as expected. It was filled to the brim with couples. It was definitely the most popular store in the entire mall.

The two of us were greeted before being shown to a table near the corner of the cafe.

The waiter handed us each a menu before going on his way.

She seemed to be quite tense as she looked down through the menu.

This store had a specific cauliflower dish that I wanted to try. It was $14, which was much more than what I'd usually pay for a meal, but since I was getting paid quite lavishly for my 'tutoring' job, I decided to indulge myself.

"Have you decided what you want to eat yet?"

"Um... just give me a few more seconds."

A few moments later, the waiter returned, and we told them our orders.

After a brief moment of silence, I started to talk with her.

"Kanako, how long has your father been getting tutors for you?"

"U-um... for about five years..."

That was quite a long time—especially with no substantial results.

"Do you have any siblings?" I asked.

"No... that's the reason why my father is trying so hard to make me study."

Huh.

"I just want to be a chess player," she continued, "but he wants someone to take over the company, and I'm his only child."

"Has he considered having another child?" It was somewhat of an insensitive question, but I needed to understand the details of this arrangement.

"U-um... Mother died when I was very young, and Father doesn't want to have a child with anyone else... he loved Mother very much."

Ah, I was beginning to piece the story together.